It was a zoo!

Memorial Day is a day that we stop our regular activities and remember and honor the sacrifice of those who have lost their lives in defense of our freedom.  It is a day that deserves the highest respect and grave attention.  

It is also a day to celebrate and experience and glory in the freedoms secured by their sacrifices.  So that's what we did with our littles on Monday.  We went to the zoo (along with 1/2 of the rest of the state and most of Iowa).

Despite the crowds, it was a marvelous day!  Better weather than we expected, great company, and fantastic animals.  Our little family of 4 (+ 1 on the way) was joined by my mom, friend Sarah, and Chase's brother's family.  

I don't know if there's anything quite as wonderful as experiencing the world through the eyes of your children, and the zoo (or other new experiences) just amplifies that wonder.  We first went through the aquarium...

The penguins, the bright fish, the pretty coral, all received wide-eyed, finger-pointing, "oo-OO-oos" from Connor.  And Lily took her time at each tank, admiring the contents right alongside her brother.

The part where you walk through the arched, over-head tank that holds the sharks got especially good "oo-OO-oo!" from Connor.

He also enjoyed the dinosaur dig area near the petting zoo.

Above was perhaps the display we spent looking at the longest, and it was simply the prairie dog villiage.  Lily loved the prairie dogs and tried to get as close to them as she could.

We even saw baby prairie dogs at one point!  And every time she got too close, the little creatures would zip into their holes and she would giggle.  :)

Connor enjoyed the prairie dogs but couldn't understand why I wouldn't just let him crawl all over their little village.  But he thoroughly enjoyed the gorilla house...

All in all, a marvelous day, made especially more marvelous for all of us (especially my back) by the marvelous company.

This was confirmed by Connor who started giving it his best shot at saying "bam-ma" (grandma) while diving out of my arms any time I walked near Mom.  Also by Lily who failed to fall asleep on the 2.5 hour drive home because she was sitting in the back seat with Gram.  (Seriously.  The two of them reminded me of myself as an elementary student sitting in the back seat of the bus on field trips.  Infinite fun!)

The perfect Saturday

Saturdays like today are rare, so I want to record it right away to remember it forever.  It was a forever kind of day...

We didn't really have anything planned, so we figured out our day over pancakes at breakfast this morning.  Well, crepes really.  We call them "roll-up pancakes."  

We decided to pack up the kids and head to town to run a few errands and have a picnic at the park.  We ran our errands while Connor took his morning nap, and ended up at the park a little after noon.

Plenty of free picnic tables and a cooling (but not "blow your lunch away") breeze welcomed us. It was really perfect - rare are the days a picnic is perfect in Nebraska, but this was such a day...

The park we went to has this fantastic castle playground as well as a train that you can ride.  A delightful train engineer welcomed us onto his train.  (Seriously, I don't know where they found that guy, but he was PERFECT for the job.  Jolly, kind, great with kids, and the outfit to fit the part - he was excellent!)

Lily enjoyed the ride from her spot seated next to me, forward-facing, calm and unmoving the whole time.  Connor on the other hand...

He spent most of his time climbing around on the rear-facing bench that Chase sat on.  He refuses to walk (despite the fact that we KNOW he can and his balance is very good), but put the kid on a moving train and he wants to crawl, climb, try to disembark, walk, cruise, and in all ways move all over the train car.  But he's so darn cute while he's doing it...

I didn't get pictures, but after the park we came home and planted the flowers we bought.  Chase seeded some areas in the yard that were bare, and we enjoyed the rest of the day outside.  We finished it off with pizza and baths and now I'm going to fall into bed and sleep like I had the most perfect Saturday ever.  Maybe it doesn't sound perfect to you, but for me, this was one for the books!